So is anyone an Isle of Man TT fan? Or road racing in general, such as the Northwest 200?

i have become a fan very recently and was completely in awe of what these guys can do.

I never ever was a motorbike racing fan. I had heard of the TT racing before but never though of checking it out.
But when i got Virgin installed to my flat (to get the F1 channel on Sky) i stumbled across some old Northwest 200 shows on Eurosport and i was amazed at the speed and skill these guys have.

I now have decided i must go to the TT and to the Northwest 200 to see these guys in action.

If you’re wondering what i’m talking about just tune in to ITV4 at 9pm and 10pm to check it out. First there’s a show on John McGuiness and then the TT2012 races of the day, which were postpone to tomorrow due to the weather, so they might show earlier races.

Despite my new found interest in motorbike racing i still find motorbike track racing boring.

I’m from the Isle of Man so growing up with it I’m a huge fan, there really is nothing like standing at inches away from bikes doing 180mph on public roads. I enjoyed this years TT more than any of recent years and the Island was busier than I’ve ever seen it. I think the film and the TV coverage have raised the profile of the event massively, apparently there was even a quick feature on Webber’s visit to the TT on the SkyF1 coverage. I also love watching the NW200, the racing there is brilliant, I really must make it over to the North West one year.

The only downside to watching the TT live is that after it’s finished whatever sport you go back to watching seems dull in comparison!

I’ve been watching a few of the TT highlight shows at night on ITV4, the sidecar races are fascinating – the passanger isn’t strapped on and throws himself about; it’s mad! The electric superbikes race was pretty interesting too – 100mph+ average speed for the fastest guys!

I live far away enough I won’t likely ever attend this event, but the track is really intriguing. This, together with hillclimb racing, is probably one of the few ways to still experience and watch motor racing the way a lot of it must have been like before race track standards were elevated to the levels now known.

There’s a wonderfully interesting old piece of video which may still be somewhere out on the internet of an old broadcast where they interview… is it Joey Dunlop? Complete with on-board camera footage, the somewhat grainy and shaky 1980s kind, and a series of questions where they’re trying to get him to explain how he can go this fast, and the answers I remember were, basically, befuddled smiles and some combination of instinct and good luck… Amazing.

The little feature during the F1 broadcast with Webber is well worth watching. You can see at one point Webber is almost in tears! because there is just nothing you can say about what you are witnessing. It is men that are completely on a different level.

I love road racing only live 30mins from the north west track and words cant describe the feeling the first time you see 20+ of these boys passing you at 190mph just few feet away.
In Ireland there are lots of national road reces and these boys have some balls racing down country roads that are hardly wide enough for a car covered in dirt, gravel and cow shit!!

Given that I’m not really into Bike racing, I absolutely LOVE the TT. Where I work, I can actually see all the bikers going onto the ferry over to the IOM for the races – they’re always up for a chat as well (usually because it takes them about 12 hours to get on the sodding ferry!)